Friday work

The Professor’s back is a bit better, thank you very much. No sudden movements, no bending over. Just sit up or stand up straight and paint at the easel. He went to the Friday breakfast for good conversation and came back to work. He started a new picture and worked on another.

 He is looking at his bouquet…needs a bit more

A Painful Day

He does not think he is old. He is. Today his back really hurt. It never does but since he has been bending over the table working on the 5'x8' it has started to hurt and today was the day that told him that all was not well. He painted anyway. That's what he does. As long as he sits up or stands up and does not move much it's ok. He worked on a couple of smalls. He actually does not believe in large pictures.

The flowers are an abandoned painting from one of his students. The flowers are done in modeling paste so they have texture. He asked for it when it was cast aside. He glittered the background and worked up the flowers. He  believes you can save anything. He has done glitter for over 30 years, every since he first went to Mexico. He has them all....some day....?He got into a rant on Facebook, as much as you can there, about the ubiquitous one color paintings that are so heralded. Being a maximalist they drive him up the wall. He wonders how or why this horse has not been put down. Surface and texture? Ok! They sit on the wall and match the sofa and disappear. Of course they are totally harmless. Nothing subversive and he believes that art is totally subversive and aggressive and should grab you and hold your attention both emotionally and intellectually. At least in the Facebook exchange he got to flirt with a pretty artist. A week ago he went to the museum. we have two very good

ones in Houston. He loves the MFAH. The painting galleries are mostly empty of visitors. They probably intimidate people. There was a show of mid century 20th century paintings from the permanent collection. What a disappointment. They looked so tired and boring and second rate. There must be better ones in the collection. The Rothko was wonderful  and the Diebenkorn good and the Guston of that period good too. He likes Guston a lot, one of his heroes. He liked the Alshinskys from the Sweeney period.... and the rest, BORING. 6 red Richters??? give me a break and he generally likes the man's work . These reminded him of one color pictures already mentioned. Never got into the Johns....the Menil has much better and tougher. The Joan Mitchell..well He was never drawn to her work. Houston's Dick Wray can paint her and most in the show into the ground.  New Mexico's St. Agnes Martin always leaves him Cold. The Big hall held only one picture; a huge Frank Stella Protractor picture that was wonderful in that empty and usually impossible space. He went up to the empty painting galleries to see what's new or rearranged. One of his favorites is the Rembrandt portrait of a anonymous woman. An early work and small, but absolutely wondrous. 

You cannot say she is beautiful, but he has made her so. Rembrandt is always truthful. He even catches her  "lazy" right eye. The lace collar and bow are painted so simply and yet look from a distance so detailed. This wonderful homely woman is just gorgeous. The Goya fishes were there. They take his breath away.

It's late and  the professor has been at it since 10AM.

How nice to get up and paint all day and listen to Jelly Roll Morton and Late Miles Davis.

Day 2

The picture is called History Lesson. It needs to ferment for a couple days. He thinks it is working, but he can't see it. He got up on a ladder...that's not good enough.

Day one

The Professor  has a bear on his hands. It has been 30+ years since he has done a large canvas. He said "I'm Never going to do a large canvas again. All I do is put them in storage." Well never say never.

He rolled it out on the table and jumped in...slowly at first. The task seemed a bit much but there was absolutely nothing to lose and he knows that he can make it work. And it started to come somewhat together after three hours. He is taking a break to eat and let the light change before working tonight. It's good times and the jazz keeps him company.

Sunday activity

After discovering his Navajo painting, the professor had  a thought about what to do with the culls from his past. He could tear them up and make collages of them and paint on them more. With slight nod to his friend Dick Wray he started to tear.

Using acrylic modeling paste he pasted them together.

He has no way to work on them in MM's studio unless he got a large table. They need to be worked on flat. He went to Home Depot and got a 4x8 sheet of plywood. The Temp out side is close to 100 and the plywood feels like 100 lbs...but it has to be so he draged it in and set it up.

It takes up a lot of space. He had no intension of of working like this, but just do it. He prepared 4 others

of smaller dimensions. The first was 5'x8', then a 4'x5' and a 4'x4' and two 16"x16". Modeling paste is a terrific glue. Everything is setting up for tomorrow.

The Professor got a call from the bookstore at the Menil Museum.

They were reoganizing and found a box full of objects that he had put on consignment with Sheila Rosenstien in the 90s. Totally forgoten, but here they are a nice time capsule of a dark creative period

in his life when he turned to ceramics for inspiration.

A Surprise from the Past

Many pictures have been rolled for 20+ years. The job is to unroll and re-catalog them. This is a BIG job. The storage space is  climate controlled but is very warm and one can only do  maybe 2 hours in the morning. There is no hurry. Most that are uncovered are recognized. This week he discovered pictures that were forgotten and lost . Three I968 pointillist pictures from a minimalist Tree/Landscape series were a real surprise.

The others  from this series  are buried under many other images; they can be known by the canvas size.  The real surprise is an unstretched painting from the 1974-75 Art History series. The Professor had just begun teaching  a survey of Art History class at the University of St. Thomas and did a series of Art history inspired paintings. Some of the series survives in one form or another. This one he called Navajo was a real surprise; it went on MM’s wall that day.

There is new work in the studio.

These have already changed. No work today, breakfast with the group and  busy work in the heat/humidity of Houston. Tomorrow with his daughter Chrissy to pick up Grandson Tavo from a week with his father.

 Here are three others unrolled/revealed from the past: Orestes, The Crossing and Cupid and Psyche.